A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help cover Robert McHugh's moving costs. To donate, visit gofundme.com/a6reud98

Alarmed by what he calls a "new phenomenon," Boulder County's treasurer is revamping the tax-lien notification letters that are sent to mobile-home owners to warn them that four county residents recently lost their homes for failing to pay liens that were less than $800.

It's one of the first concrete steps taken by county officials as they try to grapple with what they fear will become a new trend.

Boulder County Treasurer Paul Weissmann met this week with members of the Boulder City Council, city and county housing officials, and even lawyers from the Boulder County District Attorney's Office.

Boulder City Councilwoman Lisa Morzel, who was at the meeting, said now that officials know this is happening to local mobile-home owners, they can work to be more pro-active.

"This year is the first time we've ever become aware of this," Morzel said. "We'll now be watching for those tax liens much earlier and seeing what kind of help we can provide."

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All four of the Boulder County liens were purchased by real estate agent Julie Carpenter in 2014, and she took possession of the properties earlier this year when the owners failed to pay those liens.

Weissmann said it is the first time anyone in his office can recall someone actually losing their mobile home over an unpaid tax lien.

But for Robert McHugh, who lost his home over a $175 lien, it is too little too late. Carpenter already has sold McHugh's mobile home to Boulder-based Five Star Homes, for an undisclosed amount, and the 61-year-old McHugh has been told he needs to be out of his home by Monday.

Reached by phone Friday, Carpenter declined to discuss her purchase of the four mobile-home liens. Dave and Steve Money of Five Star Homes did not return calls for comment Friday.

After fighting for his home of nine years for much of the month, McHugh said that, barring a "miracle," he has come to grips with the reality that he will have to move out — even though he's still not sure where he'll go.

"To be safe, I've got to start moving," said McHugh, who plans to be gone before anyone comes to evict him Monday. "I'd like to get out of here with a little bit of my dignity if I possibly could."

'More and more people buying these'

Weissmann said that three more owners are at risk of losing their mobile homes this year. In addition, Weissmann said 59 mobile-home liens for 2014 taxes were purchased in November, and 44 of those have still not been paid.

While those owners will have about a year to pay their liens, Weissmann said that as more people purchase tax liens as investments, he's concerned more owners could lose their mobile homes.

"There are companies out there making a lot of money convincing folks to buy a tax lien and make money," Weissmann said. "There's going to be more and more people buying these."

One immediate change Weissmann is making is to the letter that owners are sent when they are issued tax liens.

Weissmann said homeowners already get certified letters that tell them they could lose their homes. But the new letter informs owners three times that they could lose their homes — including once in bold, capital letters at the very top of the letter — and also mentions the four homeowners who met that very fate this year.

"It's very, very, very clear, and we've upped the urgency," Weissmann said. "But it is still a letter from the government, so who knows if it will work."

Officials also discussed other longer-term solutions, including involving local advocates and considering changes to the law, such as extending the tax lien period on mobile homes or just having owners license them as they do vehicles.

Local law enforcement also has gotten involved.

"This concerns us, because any kind of behavior that is predatory or seeks to be taking advantage of people is something the District Attorney's Office will look at very closely," Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said. "There does not appear to be a violation of any criminal statutes or any other statutes, but we will continue to monitor it very closely."

Felisa Marcia, deputy district attorney with the Community Protections Division has been in touch with three of the four owners who lost their mobile homes and said two of them are primarily Spanish speakers.

"These are vulnerable individuals," Marcia said. "Our concern, of course, is: 'Is there something predatory? Does it pass the sniff test?' Our position has been, 'Let's find out what's going on so we can assure the public is protected.'"

'It's not a just situation'

Marcia said the other two people she has spoken to have not been ordered to leave their mobile homes, but, rather, have been approached by Carpenter to negotiate renting or re-purchasing their homes.

That's the case with Jaime Landaverde, who made a $4,000 down payment in 2010 for a run-down mobile home in Louisville and then, under a contract he signed with the legal owner, paid off the rest of the $14,500 purchase price over the next five years. He assumed the previous owner, who continued to hold the title, was taking care of his obligations.

Landaverde paid off the mobile home in January, only to have Carpenter show up, title in hand, to say the home now belonged to her.

She had bought it for $63 in unpaid taxes.

Faced with the potential loss of his investment, Landaverde said he offered Carpenter $1,000 to get the title. Instead, he said, she told him to pay her $26,500 to buy it outright or pay her between $300 and $400 a month in rent, which would be on top of the $400 lot rent he pays to the park's owners.

Landaverde has until the end of the month to decide before she said she could sell it to someone else.

"What she did was not correct," Landaverde said. "She took advantage of the situation. She just showed up as the owner with the title. It's not a just situation."

Landaverde — who works in home remodeling and lives in the mobile home with his wife and six children — said he wants to buy the mobile home again, but he doesn't know how he'll get the money. He hates the idea of renting, but he doesn't know what other choice he has.

As for McHugh, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, his struggle is just finding a place to live. He met with county housing officials Thursday, but it does not appear he will be able to stay in the city where he has lived since 1981.

"It seems pretty likely that I will have to live outside of Boulder," McHugh said. "I'm being driven out because of poverty, that's what this is. Everybody talks about it, and here it is."

Angela Lanci-Macris, the director of case management and community outreach for the county's Housing and Human Services Department, said the local officials are trying to help McHugh, but his options are limited.

"The options for finding another affordable unit are pretty tight for him, and, unfortunately for him, it's really symptomatic of the bigger issue we're seeing in Boulder County," Lanci-Macris. "In general, we have seen this with other folks. The affordable housing market is as such, and the housing market in general is as such, that we have had to see folks move out of the county because they have not been able to find affordable housing."

But Lanci-Macris said they are connecting McHugh with Bridge House and Emergency Family Assistance Association and are also working with friends and other locals who have reached out to try and help him.

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